


Not Counting You

by Salmon_I



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Character Study, F/M, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-24 00:12:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16629128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmon_I/pseuds/Salmon_I
Summary: Cassie is a realist. She's not the type of girl who falls for a one night stand.She tells herself she is not falling for Dean Winchester. Even when one night becomes two. Then three. She tells herself that for almost two weeks of "one nights", "just coffee", and "not dates".She tells herself that she should have known he was too good to be true, and does her best to forget him for two years.Then her father is killed by a disappearing truck, and maybe she should have listened to what he had to say that day. Possibly not thrown that mug at his head, either.





	Not Counting You

Cassie is a realist. She's not the type of girl who falls for a one night stand. She's had friends who have, and while she has always been a sympathetic ear for them, she also has always wondered what they were thinking. What part of "one night" or "I'm not interested in a long term relationship" is hard to understand?  
  
She tells herself she is not falling for Dean Winchester. Even when one night becomes two. Then three. She tells herself that for almost two weeks of "one nights", "just coffee", and "not dates". Through him fixing her car, and cooking her breakfast. (And that he can do both is not lost on her. Cuz, damn.)  
  
On their next 'Just Coffee', she decides to bite the bullet. "So, we're kind of dating here."  
  
"Kind-of, yah..."  
  
"I'm pretty okay with that. If you are."  
  
There is something about the smile he offers. Less cocky and more something else. Something serious and real that at the time she thought was almost shy, but that she would later term wistful. "I think I am, yah."  
  
It's the epitome of a whirlwind romance, yet she realizes that they are getting serious with each other. He may or may not have left a shirt or two at her place, and she may or may not have added a mug to her cupboard that was meant just for him.  
  
Then he comes over on one of her free days from classes to tell her he has to go out of town for awhile. His father and he have a business trip of sorts. The conversation deteriorates from there.  
  
She tells herself that she should have known he was too good to be true, and does her best to forget him for two years.  
  
Then her father is killed by a disappearing truck, and maybe she should have listened to what he had to say that day. Possibly not thrown that mug at his head, either.  
  
She can't believe she's calling his number even as she does it. Is certain it's going to ring to a wrong number, or an automated message about the number being disconnected. When she hears his voice, even though it's only a voicemail, she is both relieved and not relieved at all.  
  
"So, I'm probably the last person you expected to hear from. May even be the last person you want to hear from, but, well, I don't know who else to call." She takes a breath, but she doesn't have time to gather her thoughts because if she gets cut off she isn't sure she'll manage to call back. "You know how you said your family hunts ghosts and stuff? I think my father was just killed by one. And I need help..."  
  
She berates herself for the message, cuz even if he did hunt ghosts why would he come running to help her with the way things ended between them? She's a realist, so she isn't going to let herself hope. She'll do what she can to stop what's happening on her own if she has to. Dean isn't a realist, he's an optimist, though he'd deny it, and she's never been more grateful for that then when he's standing right in front of her again.  


* * *

  
  
  
"When can I expect to see Dean around again?" Her mother asks her about a month after it all happens.  
  
"He won't be." She admits.  
  
"He said that?" Her mother seems surprised, despite barely having met him.  
  
"I did."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Cuz, it's just not possible for it to be any other way."  
  
"What are you scared of?"  
  
If it was anyone else, she'd deny it. It's her mother, though. "It, that thing, it killed Dad. It could have killed us."  
  
"He stopped it."  
  
"This time. He looks for this stuff, though. He goes after it. Someday he won't..."  
  
"You think not knowing is going to make you less scared? Less hurt?" She doesn't reply, and her mother comes around to kiss her forehead gently. "It won't." She tells her.  
  
She's right, of course. Cuz the night is more menacing now that she knows what's out there. She finds herself looking over her shoulder, and jumping at noises that she once would have ignored. Her mother recovers faster on that end, and she dares to ask why a few months later.  
  
"I grew up in a different time, Cassie. One when we still threw spilled salt over our shoulders, and crossed ourselves when someone dared the devil. Knowing our folks had some of it right, it's more like coming home than anything. Besides, if ghosts are real, heaven has to be, right?"  
  
Cassie wishes she had her mother's faith. She doesn't, so she starts researching. Trying to figure out what may or may not protect her. She's not certain what will or won't work, but she's going to keep doing what she's discovered until proven otherwise.  
  
She doesn't realize it is spilling over into her every day life until she finds herself flagging things that come across the wire. Mysterious disappearances, and unexplained deaths. She forces herself to stop, and it works for a few more months. Then a string of strange murders occurs one town over, and it's not just over the wire but there in black and white on the front page of her own paper.  
  
It has again been two years since she last saw Dean Winchester when she manages to leave another voicemail on his phone.

 

* * *

  
  
  
There is a number she doesn't know, and a voicemail from someone named Bobby Singer asking for details and mentioning her message to Dean. She calls back, fills him in on everything she knows, including details that were kept out of print. Bobby assures her he'll get someone on it, which is when she finally finds the guts to ask.  
  
"Hey, Mr Singer?"  
  
"It's just Bobby."  
  
The response makes her smile, and it helps her push on. "Bobby, you mentioned my voicemail to Dean. Why did, I mean, was he too busy to call?"  
  
"...I thought everybody in the Hunting Community knew already."  
  
Cassie is pretty sure she isn't part of the said community. She can't bring herself to cut in with that, though, cuz there's a roughness to Bobby's voice that has warning bells going off in her head.  
  
"Dean Winchester died two months ago."  
  
She is pretty sure they exchange more words, but she doesn't remember them. Doesn't remember the drive to her mother's either. Only knows that all she can think of to say when she opens the door is, "You were right. It doesn't hurt any less."  
  
Her mother needs no explanation, just gathers her in her arms and lets her cry.  
  
  
_Fini_  


**Author's Note:**

> This was part of my contribution to spnhiatuscreations last summer.The title is from Garth Brooks' Not Counting You - which played while I was writing this and fit perfectly.
> 
> So, my fav canon ship of Dean's was Cassie. Though I grew to like Lisa and Ben, I was also always a little disappointed we didn't revisit Cassie instead. I also have always wondered about how non-hunters they interacted with would feel or react during some of their supposed deaths or other times, like the when the Leviathans made them the Most Wanted.
> 
> A part of me was tempted to continue this with her getting more and more involved with the hunting community, and becoming a hub of information via her connection with the newspaper. However, I feel that would lead to me killing her care of Dick Roman because she writes articles warning against Biggersons.


End file.
